Competition and Development in Automotive Global Value Chains: Insights from Thailand, South Africa and Argentina.
This article examines the varying outcomes of countries participating in the automotive global value chain (GVC), focusing on Thailand, South Africa, and Argentina. While all three countries had similar starting points in the 1990s, Thailand outperformed the others by achieving greater scale in vehi...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Development Studies Vol. 62; no. 3; pp. 480 - 501 |
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| Autores principales: | , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Mar2026
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=191801927&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 191801927 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00220388 JDS jtl: Journal of Development Studies issn: 00220388 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Mar2026 vid: 62 iid: 3 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 191801927 10.1080/00220388.2025.2530472 ppf: 480 ppct: 21 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T db: hlh ui: 191801927 – @attributes: type: P db: hlh ui: 191801927 tig: atl: Competition and Development in Automotive Global Value Chains: Insights from Thailand, South Africa and Argentina. aug: au: Wuttke, Tobias Perez-Almansi, Bruno Techakanont, Kriengkrai affil: Bard College Berlin, Berlin, Germany Venice School of Management, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand su: South Africa Thailand Argentina International competition Economic development Global value chains Automobile industry Global production networks Industrial policy sug: subj: International competition Economic development South Africa Thailand Argentina New Car Dealers Automobile and Other Motor Vehicle Merchant Wholesalers New and used automobile and light-duty truck merchant wholesalers Motor Vehicle Body Manufacturing Automobile Manufacturing Automobile and light-duty motor vehicle manufacturing Administration of General Economic Programs Global value chains Automobile industry Global production networks Industrial policy keyword: automotive economic development industrial policy local content R&D automotive economic development industrial policy local content R&D ab: This article examines the varying outcomes of countries participating in the automotive global value chain (GVC), focusing on Thailand, South Africa, and Argentina. While all three countries had similar starting points in the 1990s, Thailand outperformed the others by achieving greater scale in vehicle production, leading to significant local economic benefits, such as trade surpluses, expanded supply chains, and the localization of R&D activities. The paper introduces the concept of the 'adding-up problem' in automotive GVC participation, where lead firms centralize production and R&D to maximize economies of scale, leaving competing countries with limited production volumes and weaker local supply chains. Based on more than 100 semi-structured interviews, along with industry statistics, this study compares the automotive industries of the three countries, focusing on their competition in medium-sized pickup truck production. The paper contributes to GVC literature by refining the understanding of zero-sum dynamics in global production. We demonstrate that countries' success is constrained by the relational nature of GVC competition, but show that the automotive GVC nonetheless offers substantial economic development benefits for participating countries. Thailand's superior performance is explained through serendipitous factors like income level and location, as well as first-mover advantages due to strategic industrial policies. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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